I've been waiting a long time to read Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon, and I'm happy to report it greatly surpassed all expectations. Which, to be fair, were fairly few.

Nick is a tough guy with a tough past, yadda yadda, but he reads so unlike a tired cliche. In fact, half the fun of the book is trying to figure out just what his deal is, exactly. He's a survivor, callous, unemotional, but with a fierce loyalty to his older brother, Alan. My theories ranged far, from a budding psychopath to high functioning autistic. I'm good at guessing, but I didn't actually clue into the real twist until about halfway through.

Alan is a tough nut to crack, too. He's a charming con, behind a facade of nerd and harmlessness. It took a long time for him to grow on me, probably until the end of the book, maybe even the first part of the second book. Which is also good.

I just realized I am not coherently reviewing this book because I liked it so much I can't, and also because even though I only started this one last night, I'm smack in the middle of the third and my attention can't be divided. That good.